Thank you Roy, What a helpful tip. It's already helped me. Julie Kane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roy Stockdill" <roy.stockdill@btinternet.com> To: <ENG-YKS-LEEDS@rootsweb.com>; <ENG-YKS-BRADFORD@rootsweb.com>; <Dur-nbl@rootsweb.com>; <WEST-RIDING@rootsweb.com>; <ENG-YORKSHIRE@rootsweb.com>; <ENG-YKS-HALIFAX-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 12:48 PM Subject: [YKS-BRADFORD] Tip re searching at FreeBMD >I imagine quite a lot of listers will already know this but on the >off-chance > that not everyone does, here's a useful little tip for when you are > searching at the FreeBMD website for the entries of births, marriages > and deaths of relatives, etc. This is particularly useful for those > running > one-name studies but it can also work for ordinary family historians if > they > want to identify possible relatives with an unusual surname where it was > used as a middle name, i.e. possibly the name of a mother or > grandparent, etc. > > If you enter nothing at all in the surname field but enter in the first > name > field a surname with a + sign in front of it, this produces entries in > which > the name was used either as a forename or a middle name. To give you > an example..... > > Entering just "Stockdill" in the first name field produces only ONE entry, > for a child called Stockdill Middlebrook registered in 1896 at Dewsbury. > But if I enter "+Stockdill" in the first name field, nothing in the > surname > field and choose All Types, this produces NINE other entries for births, > marriages and deaths where Stockdill was given as a middle name. I can > then identify all of these as being either relatives of mine or linked to > my > one-name study. > > Remember, it's important to put the plus sign before the name and the > more unusual the surname the better the chance you have of finding the > entries. Looking for people with Smith as a middle name will not be very > helpful! > > -- > Roy Stockdill > Professional genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer > Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: > www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html > > "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, > and that is not being talked about." > OSCAR WILDE > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-YKS-BRADFORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.21/1263 - Release Date: 2/6/2008 > 8:14 PM >